Emergency Room Services

Emergency rooms in the USA are under increasing pressure to provide emergency care to all, even if they are non life threatening. This trend in approaching ER for every singly problem is costing the healthcare system a large amount of costs, with the result that the number of ER services and hospitals are decreasing with increased pressure on the remaining healthcare facilities.Other contributing factors are not helping either. In addition to this the issue of increased alcohol consumption and ER admissions is also beginning to negatively affect the quality of healthcare. Nurses are under more pressure than ever to handle ER efficiently, which is showing no signs of decreasing the number of unnecessary ER admissions.Alcohol and Drug Abuse Are Main Abusers of Emergency Room ServicesMany reports now confirm that Emergency room services are among the most misused healthcare services employed by the patients. Of the many problems with which the patients come into the ER with, the most co mmon are due to alcohol and drug abuse.According to McGeary (2000) â€Å"chronic illicit drug use is a positive as well as a significant determinant of the probability of utilizing the ER.† (McGeary et al, 2000) Substance abusers were 30 percent more likely to utilize the ER services than any other emergencies. (McGeary et al, 2000)The above statements and study results point out to many issues and findings. Firstly, that drug users or abusers are the most prominent patient crowd of the ERs. This leads to the next conclusion that in order to improve ER services, we must be able to identify and care for the main target patients, who are drug users, alcoholics and such related substance abusers.ER is also a most likely place where screening for psychiatric symptoms and drug abuse can be identified, and further treatments carried out. In this way, an ER can be looked at as a diagnostic, screening and treatment facility for those who are substance or drug abusers, with or without psychological symptoms.This also means that in order to improve services in the ER, the prime patient population in focus should be such people, and effective measures and policies must be introduced to provide care for this group. The costs utilized in the education and prevention of alcohol abuse is far less than the costs that it takes to treat alcohol cases.The trend in opting for emergency visit initially may have been limited to emergency cases, but in the recent years has grown to include insignificant calls that may not need emergency initiatives. The problem lies in lack of awareness among people about what constitutes an emergency and what not.To many this increase in the recent years in the emergency room entries and calls are due to the increasing size of the populations, the reduction of services and number of hospitals, the decrease in the number of nurses, and the problems of not having insurance and coverage in the American population. The current concept of ER has changed to become a place that provides round the clock services for all healthcare related problems instead of a service that is essentially made to save lives in critical danger.The complications are leading to more admissions, with the danger that many patients who may be in actual need of the critical treatment may experience delays in their treatment, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. (Severson, 2000) The current statistics reveal that one in five of the visits to the ER are for non-urgent conditions. (Osheraoff, 2004)Of the most common abusers of the ER system, men, poor families and African Americans are seen to abuse them the most. These numbers are high in all of the American states. In California, this includes a quarter million of the Californian adults and 60,000 children.The increase these admissions and care treatments cost are six times more than the normal clinical expenditures. Of the abusers, the non citizens were more likely to utilize the ER service s when compared to the citizens. All these increases in the numbers are thought to take place due to the reasons mentioned above. The ER services nation wide are in deep trouble. (Sacremento State News, 2004)In the last ten years from 1993 to 2003, America as experienced an increase of 12 percent in its population, but the ER reports and admissions have increased by 27 percent. This was coupled by the closing of 425 emergency departments, 700 hospitals and 200,000 beds. This means that as the number of ER services is decreasing, the remaining services are experiencing a sharp rise in the admissions and therefore more work with lesser amount of quality provision. (Brown, 2006)What many of the Americans refuse to acknowledge is that the ER visit is also costly for them, apart from the increased cost that the healthcare sector pays. This trend to have every thing taken care of in the ER is usually due to two reasons on the patients’ behalf. One is to save oneself from waiting fo r an appointment with the primary healthcare provider, and second is the lack of awareness among the Americans as to what constitutes an emergency. (Osheroff, 2006)The drug related admissions in hospital ERs is increasing precariously. In 2004, there were near 2 million admissions in the ER for drug related mishaps, of which 1.3 million were due to drug misuse or abuse. (SAMSHA, 2006)Of the 1.3 million, 30 percent comprised of illicit drug abuse cases, 25 percent were related to over the counter and prescribed medications, 8 percent were alcohol abuse cases in people under age 21, and the rest included combinations of illicit drugs, pharmaceuticals and alcohols in various combinations and percentages.The drugs that were primarily involved comprised of cocaine, marijuana, heroine, stimulants, amphetamines and methamphetamines, PCP, Ecstasy and GHB in the largest amounts. The problem will continue to increase in number as many predict due to the increased number of teenagers and young adults taking up these substances. (Samsha, 2006)

Harm of Nuclear Weapon

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon – the United States has a moral responsibility to act. Good morning respected judges teachers and my dear friends I here today to speak on the topic dangers of nuclear weapons We all know that the effect of the nuclear explosion in hiroshima and Nagasaki can be felt even today the survivors tell us that no one should ever undergo what they have been through a nuclear explosion creates a living hell where the living envy the dead. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter; a modern thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than a thousand kilograms can produce an explosion comparable to the detonation of more than a billion kilograms of conventional high explosive. [1] Thus, even single small nuclear devices no larger than traditional bombs can devastate an entire city by blast, fire and radiation. Nuclear weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction, and their use and control has been a major focus of international relations policy since their debut. In the history of warfare, only two nuclear weapons have been detonated offensively, both near the end of World War II. The first was detonated on the morning of 6 August 1945, when the United States dropped a uranium gun-type device code-named â€Å"Little Boy† on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The second was detonated three days later when the United States dropped a plutonium implosion-type device code-named â€Å"Fat Man† on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. These bombings resulted in the immediate deaths of an estimated 80,000 people (mostly civilians) from injuries sustained from the explosion. When factoring in deaths from long-term effects of ionizing radiation and acute radiation sickness, the total death toll is estimated at 120,000. The use of these weapons remains controversial. Since the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, nuclear weapons have been detonated on over two thousand occasions for testing purposes and demonstration purposes. A few states have possessed such weapons or are suspected of seeking them. The only countries known to have detonated nuclear weapons—and that acknowledge possessing such weapons—are (chronologically) the United States, the Soviet Union (succeeded as a nuclear power by Russia), the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Israel is also widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though it does not acknowledge having them. [2]

Role Of Financial Resources Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Role Of Financial Resources - Coursework Example First, interest paid for loans causes the huge outflow of funds earned from the profit. Second, increased debts’ collection turnaround starves the firm off the funds required to meet short-term obligations hence resorting to borrowing. The firm needs to reduce the collection period to be less than 30 days and increase the stock turnover to avoid holding excess inventory that might not fetch the desired profit. The firm should reduce borrowing from the bank since interests are increasing the expense. The firm needs to increase efficiency by ensuring timely collection of debts. The firm operates at the loss when production is lower. As the production and sales increases, the profit increases until it can cover the total cost fully (Baker & Powell, 2005). A meeting point between profit and total cost, the firm can break-even and manage the cost by ensuring that any increase in variable cost such as increased in labor cost, is within the desired range such that profitability is no t affected. Although it is difficult to manage the fixed cost such as legal reserve, the firm needs to ensure availability of free cash flow by reducing debts and account receivables. The firm will have to grapple with lower profits as it increases costs because the marginal benefit keeps reducing with increased interests’ expenses and stock holding cost. Due to lack of efficient operations in handling the receivable, the firm will have wait for long to receive the money from debtors, thereby hurting profitability.

American Political System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American Political System - Essay Example The Affordable Care Act is said to help ensure that the citizens are in charge of their health care. The Act highlights a patient’s bill of right that states that every American is flexible, and stable in identifying the needs arising from their health. The Act though ignores the crucial issue of health care cost attainments. It is said to be an affordable act but the American patients have to incur a lot to attaining health insurance and cannot attain any treatment without having paid all premiums. Difficulties experienced in the application of Civil Rights in the South The civil rights Act was developed by Kennedy in 1875. Its main aims were to address the issues of discrimination based on color, sex, race, religion and origin, the application of the voters and their requirements and the freedom to access public facilities, work places and schools. Despite this, the bill was faced by a number of controversies that delayed its immediate applicability. But first, the fact that it did not include a number of vital provisions as stated by some of the civil rights leaders, which included terminating the discrimination experienced in private sectors, providing protection against brutality brought out by the police, and creating a department to enhance justice among all citizens disregard less of position or wealth, the bill failed to be passed. In addition, President Johnson said that the bill created a division and stimulated long-term differences in the political support between the North and South.

Enviornmental Biotechnology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Enviornmental Biotechnology - Research Paper Example The contamination of drinking water by these compounds is a major concern, and has led to the development of water treatment strategies aimed at their removal. The EDCs have been implicated in disorders of the neuroendocrine system, specifically on the hypothalamic neurotransmitter system, size of specific hypothalamic region, and the numbers of cells expressing the estrogen receptor ÃŽ ² . Certain chemical groups can disrupt and mimic reproductive hormones of fish, resulting in feminisation and premature egg yolk production in fish. Aside from effects on the reproductive system, these disrupters of hormonal activity have also been related to the prevalence of obesity and lately, schizophrenia. Cylindrospermopsin (CYN) is a freshwater algal toxin that is produced certain cyanobacterial species. The strains producing CYN are widely distributed in different regions of the world. These are Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, Umezakia natans and Aphanizomenon ovalisporum. Cylindrospermopsin is a tricyclic alkaloid with a tricyclic guanidine moiety combined with hydroxymethyluracil. It is considered a globally important freshwater algal toxin. The tolerable daily limit for cylindrospermin is 0.02 g/kg body weight/day (2) . Ingestion of CYN can result in liver and kidney damage with bloody diarrhea and urine (2). Several methods have been developed for the detection of CYN (3). CYN has has a maximum UV absorbance at 262 nm, and an easily identifiable peak. The first screening method for CYN used reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with photo diode array detection.Later HLPC-mass spectrometry with electrospray increased the detection limit to 200 ÃŽ ¼g L-1. With tandem mass spectrometry, 1 Â µg of CYB can be detected. The techniques used earlier were quite expensive and the development of polymerase chain reaction amplification systems were developed so with

CRJ 520 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

CRJ 520 - Research Paper Example of all these challenges has been the lack of enough resources to support the program, and this has compounded the same problems that the program was supposed to address. The Substance Abuse Felony Punishment (SAFP) program is an intensive and an inexpensive substance abuse program that the Texas State offers for offenders undergoing probation. Under this program, the offenders spend 6-12 months in a correctional facility that is run by officers from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). After leaving the Substance Abuse Felony Punishment facility, clients are placed within a residential establishment that is situated within the community, followed by a minimum of three and a maximum of nine months of outpatient counseling. The treatment offered by the Substance Abuse Felony Punishment program is usually offered on contractual by private treatment bodies contracted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. In the years that the program has been in operation, there has been ongoing criticism regarding the program especially on the lack of regulation by the state government (Singh & Chalï ¬ , 2008). At the present, the Substance Abuse Felony Punishment program offers nearly 4,500 treatment beds that are strictly dedicated to individuals who have been charged for crimes related to substance abuse. Ideally, a person can only be placed under an SAFP program if a judge establishes that drug or alcohol abuse was responsible for the offense and that the offender is ideal for treatment. Under this program, an approximate 500 SAFP beds are preserved for parolees. In most cases, offenders are placed under the SAFP program either as an original condition or as an alternative of a supervision requirement while under management (Singh & Chalï ¬ , 2008). Over the last three decades, Texas has come up with legislations and policies that are mean to bolster public safety. This has in turn led to overcrowding in prisons and jails and a corrections budget that has

The culture of punishment in America. Deathpenalty Essay

The culture of punishment in America. Deathpenalty - Essay Example It has been observed that since the 1970s, the number of death penalty cases have increased manifold, and America continues to justify the use of cruel methods of punishment for those indicted for all sorts of crimes. â€Å"The use of mass incarceration and the use of torture in prisons including Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay are other shining examples of resurfacing of earlier held mentalities with regards to meting out of punishments.† (Silberman, pg154)But then, in the latter case, one has to take into account the fact that most of the prisoners were terrorists; what was at stake was the security of the citizens of America which had to be safeguarded under all circumstances! In this paper, the primary focus is going to be on the attitudes of the various states of America towards the use of the death penalty. The primary area of concern would be the justificatory statements pertaining towards the use of or abolishment of death penalty though initially the American attitude t owards the use of punishment techniques in general will be touched upon, for that has a strong bearing on present-day attitudes towards death penalty, and the use of numbers and figures would merely be to put the claims under clearer perspective. It would be well to learn about the general attitudes maintained by the federal and state machinery with respect to treatment of prisoners in American jails. The federal and many state prison systems have gradually done away with trying to rehabilitate prisoners, instead opting to keep them in prisons for longer periods of time. And the ones indicted of death penalty are finding it tougher to get their sentencing reduced to life-imprisonment. Throughout the 1970s, religious fundamentalism has played a major part in increasing the use of corporal punishment, long prison terms and death penalty. â€Å"Alongside, there is also evidence to show that America had never fully abandoned extreme forms of punishment before the 1970s, nor had she com pletely rejected the rehabilitative ideal since. The widespread abuse of the mentally retarded in institutions such as Willowbrook and the torture of prisoners in Arkansas and at other places showcases the contradictions in American culture with regards to punishment†. (Silberman, pg 155)Going by these incidents, the reader will have very less cause for wonderment as to the use of more innovative and sophisticated gadgetry to execute death row inmates. The Enlightenment philosophy and the religious traditions that has to do with the Universalist principles of famous political figures like Benjamin Rush have resulted in the â€Å"development of the modern penitentiary, designed to isolate prisoners from the negative influences of other prisoners and encourage them to seek redemption by reading the Bible. The restorative justice movement and its historical antecedents are as much a part of the American story as the moralism of the early Protestant settlers.† (Silberman, p g 155) â€Å"A growing chorus of voices is insisting on the re-examination of the death penalty in Ohio. Among the most powerful voices include Ohio’s Catholic bishops, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul Pfeifer; former attorney general Jim Petro; and former state prison director Terry Collins.†(McCarty pg A9) The only US manufacturer of pentobarbital--the drug Ohio